Treatment disputes: Disagreements over the need for care or urgency of care or the recommended plan of care

Impaired individuals: Individuals who show up for appointments under the influence of alcohol or illegal drugs

Privacy disputes: Family members being denied information about their loved ones for privacy reasons

We discussed proactive and reactive tools to manage these disputes. These ideas may be helpful for you in your health leadership role:

Culture: Always work on and invest in your organizational culture of respect and kindness – to prevent issues from arising in the first place

Discuss: Share examples of unusual situations – like the video above – with your team and talk about how you would respond if that happened

Survey: Survey your team members about the issues that bother patients and their families – then consider ways of proactively addressing any information gaps that contribute to that dissatisfaction. Such as, creating a brochure or video or poster that is available in your waiting areas.

Resilience: Build resilience in your team – through mindfulness and de-escalation training techniques